Men's Basketball | 3/4/2026 1:00:00 PM

Madison, Wis. - University of Wisconsin-La Crosse senior guard Dustin Derousseau of Tomah (H.S), senior forward JJ Paider of Neenah (H.S.) and junior guard Sam Grieger of Randolph (H.S.) have all been selected to the 2025-26 All-Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Basketball First Team in a vote by the league coaches, the league office announced Wednesday.

Derousseau was also named to the WIAC All-Defensive Team while Grieger was voted the WIAC Player of the Year.
 

Grieger is the seventh player in school history to be named the WIAC Player of the Year, joining Eric Haug (1974-75), John Mielke (1980-81), Joe Werner (2006-07), Tony Mane (2010-11), Jared Staege (2015-16) and Wyatt Cook (2020-21). 
 
Senior forward Kade Van Asten of Little Chute (H.S) was selected to the 2025-26 WIAC All-Sportsmanship Team.
 
It marks the second straight year Derousseau, Paider and Grieger were voted to the All-WIAC First Team. Derousseau, Paider and Grieger have started all 28 games this season.

Derousseau earned his third career all-conference recognition after being named to the 2023-24 WIAC Honorable Mention Team and to the 2024-25 WIAC First Team. Averaging 15.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, Derousseau leads UWL in three-point field goals made (42) and attempted (131) while ranking second in assists (77). He has scored in double figures in 22 games with a career-high 34 points versus UW-Stout on February 11. Derousseau became the 18th player in UWL history to score 1,000th career points this season and currently sits 12th with 1,265. 
 
He is second in career blocks (100) and tied for third in career steals (138). Appearing in 97 career contests, including 90 starts, Derousseau is second in blocks (40) and steals (52) this year. He is second in the WIAC in blocks and steals per game while ranking fifth in scoring and seventh in rebounding. Derousseau has at least two blocks in 11 contests with a career-high eight versus Concordia University Wisconsin on December 19. He recorded at least two steals in 15 games, including tying his career-high with six against Hampden-Sydney College (Va.) on November 7. Derousseau had six steals versus UW-River Falls on January 22, 2025.

 

He was also one of the five players named to the 2025-26 WIAC All-Defensive Team. It is Derousseau's second straight year being voted to the all-defensive team. Started in 2012-13, Derousseau is one of nine UWL players to selected to the league's all-defensive team. He joins Lucas Morrissey (2012-13), Jared Staege (2015-16), Taulvish McCray (2017-18, 2018-19), Luke Norcia (2019-20), Seth Anderson (2020-21), Sean Suchomel (2020-21, 2021-22), Will Fuhrmann (2022-23), and Jake Gross (2023-24).  

Paider earned his third straight All-WIAC First Team selection this year. He is third on the team in scoring this season at 14.8 points per game while leading in rebounding with 7.9. Paider is shooting 59.7% (148-of-248) from the field this season, ranking third in the WIAC. Scoring in double figures in 23 games, Paider had a career-high 29 points at UW-Eau Claire on January 29 while also recording 13 rebounds. He is second for UWL in steals (37) and third in assists (55). 
 
Paider has eight double-doubles this year with a season-high 14 rebounds at Wheaton College (Ill.) on November 22. He became the 20th player to score 1,000 career points this season and currently ranks 14th with 1,158. Paider's 678 rebounds ranks sixth in school history. He is one of five players in UWL history to record at least 1,000 career points and 650 rebounds.
 
Paider has played in 102 career with 88 starts. He ranks second in the WIAC this season in rebounding, fourth in steals and seventh in scoring.
 

Grieger earned his second career All-WIAC honor. Currently sixth in NCAA Division III in scoring at 25.8 points per game, Grieger leads the WIAC in scoring, free throws made (192) and attempted (224) and assist/turnover ratio (2.5). His 722 points this year break the single-season school record of 666 by Tony Mane in 2010-11. Grieger scored a school record 46 points at UW-Oshkosh on January 7, breaking Eric Dudek's single-game record of 43 versus UW-Whitewater on February 22, 1995.
 
Scoring in double figures in all 28 games this year, Grieger has at least 25 points in 16 contests. He became the 19th player in UWL history to eclipse 1,000 career points this year and currently ranks sixth with 1,428. Grieger has set single-season school records for free throws made (192) and attempted (224) this year. He is 68-of-74 (91.9%) at the line in the last eight games. Grieger is sixth in the NCAA Division III in free throws made and seventh in attempts.
 
He is third in the WIAC in assists per game (3.5) and free throw shooting (85.7%), tied for seventh in steals (1.2) and eighth in field goal shooting (52.1%). Grieger is also averaging 5.0 rebounds per game. He has played in 78 career games with 67 career starts.
 
Van Asten was named to the 2025-26 All-WIAC Sportsmanship Team, chosen for individuals that displayed exemplary sportsmanship throughout the season.  It includes one member from each school. Van Asten was also selected to the team a year ago. He has appeared in 12 games this season, scoring a career-high nine points versus UW-Eau Claire on February 21. Van Asten went three-of-four from three-point range in the game. He has a season-high two rebounds in three games. 
 
UWL, led by third-year head coach JT Gritzmacher, is 22-6 on the season after finishing 9-5 in the WIAC. The Eagles, ranked 14th on this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll and 13th in the National Power Index (NPI), earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championships after capturing the league's tournament title with an 81-78 victory at UW-Whitewater on February 28. It is UWL's first WIAC Tournament Championship in school history.   

 
The 22 victories are second-most in single-season school history. UWL won school record 25 contests last season, advancing to the NCAA Division III Sweet 16.
 
UWL will host the NCAA Division III First and Second Round on Friday-Saturday, March 6-7 in Mitchell Hall. UWL hosts Hope College (Mich.) while Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges (Calif.) faces Aurora University (Ill.) in the first round games on March 6. The winners advance to the second round on March 7.